Process for the production of voltaic strong-current arcs.



1 No. 877,448. PATENTED JAN. 21, 1908.

H. PAULING.

PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF VOLTAIG STRONG CURRENT ARCS.

APPLIGATI ON FILED JUNE 30. 1906.

. of- Pi'ussia, German Empire, have'invented nnrrnn STATES arana onnron.

HARRY PAULI'DlG, OF GELSENKIRCHEN, 1ASSIGNQR TO THE FIRM'OF'SALPETERSAURE-INDUSTRIE-GESELLSGHAFT, G. M. B. H .,-OF GELSENKIRGHEN,

GERMANY.

rnocnss FOR THE PRODUCTION OF vom'nrc scrnonacnnnnnr ARCS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21,1e0s.

, Application filed J line 30. 1996. Serial No. 324-278 T cZZ whomitma'g concern:

Beit lrnown that'I, HARRY PAULING, a subject of'the German Emperor, andresident of..84 Vl ilhelnrstrasse, in Gelsenkirchen, in thei royince of.Westphalia, in the Kingdom certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses. for the Production of Voltaic Strong-Current Arcs, of whichthe following is a specification.

. This invention relates to processes for the production of voltaicstrong-current arcs such are adapted to act on air or other gases, or onmixtures of air with such gases.

My improvements will be useful in connection with the production ofnitric acid from air, for example, by 'mea'ns of voltaic arcs, as haspreviously been proposed It has been found that the application ofelectricity to the treatment of air or analogous gases necessitatesvoltaic arcs of a con siderable length, but of a comparatively smalldimension incross section. The great length of such arcs requires averyhigh tension, and high tensions, as is well-known, have a tendency to-veffect sudden short circuits between the electrodes forming the arcs.

The object of this invention is. to avoid such short circuits.

To such end it consists in certain features of novelty which will appearfrom the following description, reference being had to 'the accompanyingdrawing which shows dia grammatically a form of construction of anapparatus for ellccting the new process.

1 Figure 1 is a vcr'ti \1 section on the line l1.

of Fig. 2, and Fig a horizontal section on In those drawings, 1 denotesa pipe which is employed to blow a current of the air, or

verging electrodes 2, Z and in the direction of divergence thercol. Theelectrodes 2, 2- are arranged to diverge in lateral and upward thepresence of two subscribing witnesses. other gas to be acted upon,between the d1- directions from ppe 1,- and they are contained'partiallyin a channel 3, and partially in a channel 4 disposed preferably atright angles to the former and communicating therewith. The electrodesare connected to the source of current bywires 5 at the point of theirconvergence. The channel 4 is to receive another current of the gas,this current entering in the direction' o'f ithe arrow 1.

The current of gas passing along the channel 4 acts in its turn on theportion of'the electrodes 2, 2 projectin into the'channel 4 so as toblow between t em and convey, in

connection with the current of gas leaving the-pipe l, the dischargesalong the electrodes so as to form arcs of the desired lengths with theavoidance of short circuits.

A certain definite length, as is well-known, will cause the arcs tobreak and hence extinguish. The velocity oft-he current of gas in thechannel 4 is less than that of the current arriving in the channel 3.These velocities must be acertained by experiment.

It is to be understood that any suitable construction of apparatus foreffecting the described process may be used, the constructionillustrated being given by way of ex-

